Not surprisingly given it is over a century old, the exterior of the Carterton railway station has been repainted several times.
The latest repainting was in February and March, 2013. Before the repainting, the sides and chimneys
were a light brown, and the roof and trim a medium brown, as shown in the photograph below

The repainting in 2013 was done by subcontractors employed by the owners Greater Wellington Regional Council. The
council had assumed ownership of all stations in the Wellington Metro Rail network except Wellington
Railway Station July, 2011[1]. As well as repainting, the subcontractors strengthened the building to make
it safer during earthquakes. This strengthening included reinforcing the chinmey that was operational,
filling the remaining two chinmeys with concrete, and attaching the building to its piles - it had been
sitting on them.

The first photograph below shows the station after the scaffolding has been erected and the exterior
of the building prepped.

Then it was on to painting the station in the heritage rail colours. These are Colonial White and
Dynamite from the Resene Heritage collection. Other railway stations painted in these colours include Middlemarch, Paekakariki,
Eketahuna and Helensville.

The photograph below is a view from the east of the newly painted station

and this photograph is a view from the northern end of the platform.

The station and neighbouring properties were damaged by vandals a short time after the repainting was completed.
At the station, some pickets on the portico on the eastern side of the building were smashed. The
Wairarapa Railway Restoration Society paid for the replacement of the pickets. This was
not just a matter of going to the local timber store and buying ready made pickets. Timber had to
be specially run to size, then shaped by a joiner to the same profile as the smashed pickets.
The photograph below shows Mike "Dogman" Dutton sanding the handrail of the portico.